10/13 Interview Flashcards
Favorite book (long-term and recently)
Slaughterhouse Five because: (1) I enjoy Vonnegut’s style of satire in what is actually a very funny book, and (2) as a European history major I found the setting of Dresden fascinating in relation to what I had learned about WW2 in my classes.
Recently: I read a book called Just Mercy that’s by an African American lawyer that essentially argues that the death penalty perpetuates systemic injustices. While I had thought about the traditional conceptual arguments for and against the death penalty before I had not as deeply considered the practical limitations and realities of the death penalty and how the actual implementation of the law often faces the same issues with having real people apply it that happen throughout the rest of society.
Favorite travel destination:
Germany or Peru. I think that one of the advantages of travel is that it accelerates your learning through experience - I have heritage in Germany and so really appreciated the historical elements of Berlin and Munich, while in Peru I happened to be in the villages outside of Machu Picchu when there were extensive labor riots and while this was minorly inconvenient for the trip itself it was an up close reminder that the comfortable experience we have in the States does not extend everywhere and that there are very real problems throughout the world.
Favorite policy podcast:
The Economist
Recommend something:
The Economist daily podcast - the perfect length, detailed coverage of three important but random topics a day, has an international lens to it, and always has a sense of humor that keeps it light.
Tell me about your time in college? Why did you chose Notre Dame?
In addition to Notre Dame having a very highly ranked business school, my brother went there and when I visited him on campus I noticed that Notre Dame really does have a sense of community where you live on campus for three years and really develop tight-knit relationships with your classmates - I’ve been roommates with my freshman year roommate for several years out of college. I also really appreciated that there was a FYS with a required curriculum in more qualitative fields such as philosophy that I thought really made it a well-rounded experience.
What are you most looking forward to in business school?
I’m obviously looking forward to real formalized learning again and the opportunity it brings to supercharge my career , but perhaps the piece I’m most looking forward to is developing a network of interesting people and learning from their different experiences.
What do you like most about your current work?
(1) I like the analytical nature and that it really challenges me to use my brain, (2) I also like that it’s in healthcare which is an industry that I think is not only important but is ripe for disruption. (3) I really like working in teams with other smart people.
What has been your most challenging or rewarding academic experience so far?
Writing a 25 page capstone paper for my history major - I wrote about shellshock for World War 1 veterans, and it was not only a challenging experience but also made me find and review primary sources and come up with a new contribution.
If you are admitted to our program, what do you think your biggest challenge will be?
I think the biggest challenge will be to figure out where to prioritize my time, I want to spend time learning new things in classes but realize that a lot of value comes through interacting more informally with the classmates around you.
If you could change one thing about your professional life, what would it be and why?
Have more of an impact
Tell me about a time when you had to decide among multiple options.
- Analytics fellowship vs. staying with my project - really interested in long-term analytics but wanted to close out the engagement and see it to fruition, and delay the analytics until the end of the project this winter
Tell me about a time when you had to step out from your comfort zone.
- Premera project presenting to executives on a routine basis
Initial Section 111 / COB project had to learn SQL and put together a full analysis
Tell me when you did something innovative.
NDBH target analysis – had a challenging task in a short-window. A unique quirk in which we had to choose providers that were close the military bases in the contract. We couldn’t use normal Excel techniques and although this was not a data project per se I recalled that I had learned that this was possible in SQL so I was able to use my background in analytics to find a quicker outcome that was scaled to a large degree.
Tell me about something that you’ve encountered, at work or outside of work, that made you feel uncomfortable.
Ethical situation –> expensing using the Deloitte code. I didn’t use it and encouraged my team not to do it.
Tell me about a difficult conversation you had to have with someone.
- Telling Paige her feedback (she was my friend from college and I have many mutual friends with her). Although I didn’t love giving her feedback I knew she was aligned with professional development and would appreciate honest feedback that would help her along.
How did you manage to resolve a conflict situation and move the team forward?
Disagreement over the VOFS financial model.
Where do see your business heading?
- HealthScape Advisors is a fairly - I joined because I was interested in both healthcare and consulting and I felt a smaller company would allow me to get to know people better and have more of an elevated role in the firm. That said, when I joined HAS it was a 50 person company, and now it’s closer to a 150 person company –> it continues to grow both from new clients and areas within healthcare ,but more importantly because we place emphasis on repeat business with the same clients by providing them very hands-on service (end to end solutions rather than drop a strategy and move on).
What’s a personal goal that you’ve set for yourself recently?
I set myself a goal to read 40 books by the end of the year, particularly to read more classic works of fiction since I usually read non-fiction books. I’m only at about 25 right now but thankfully all of the free time we have with covid I might be able to.
Tell me about something at work you have been proud of in the last year.
Proud that I built a target market analysis model for a new product entry across the state of Washington, which we’re now using to launch in the follow-up implementation. In addition to technically executing on the model, I am proud of how I was able to convey a complicated process to the executives involved in our project
Given what you know now, if you could go back to university and pick your subjects, would you change your choices?
I wouldn’t radically change them but I think I would choose Political Science and maybe Business Analytics because these are more oriented around actual application of skills and real life concepts rather than just theoretical.
Why did you pick your quote?
It resonated with me because we tend to laud big names that have made major contributions but often look past the advantages or societal factors that contribute to those accomplishments, which is significant as we think about trying to maximize human achievement moving forward. It not only highlights the inequities of our society, but also underscores how much untapped potential there is that we could access if we put into place the right social and political policies.
How do you bring diversity to the Yale classroom?
I would say I bring diversity of thought through my unique background. Although I have a fairly traditional business and consulting background, I think I have a unique
Who do you admire in your current industry (companies and leaders)?
There’s a company called Oak Street Health that I really admire because they are heavily data based and are focused on value based care that reduces total cost of care. I also admire Kaiser Permanete, which is a direct competitor to my current client, because of their integrated care model is very hard to beat in terms of the price they offer their customers. Optum would be my third. Livongo could be another one, their mission is to leverage data and technology solutions to manage chronic conditions like diabetes and reduce total cost of care.
Why did you choose to join HealthScape?
I was very interested in both consulting because of the learning opportunity it provided me and healthcare. While there are many companies that consult in the healthcare space, I was especially interested in joining HealthScape because it was a fairly small firm that allowed me to quickly become embedded and to accelerate more quickly within the firm.
What has been the most challenging aspect of your current job?
Translating insight into action.
Who do you admire at your company
The person I probably admire the most is Dan Delaney, who is the Managing Director on my current project and someone who I’ve deliberately tried to continue working with over the years. Not only is he probably the best pure consultant at the firm in that he has an immense amount of experience in the industry but always thinks strategically and takes the time to sit back and tailor his approach to the client, but he also really focuses on developing the more junior members of the firm and building the culture of the firm. He’s given me probably the most honest feedback of my career but also is understanding of the work-life balance considerations.
What are the challenges with philanthropy - do you really think it can make a difference?
(1) want to make sure the money is coming from a good source (do no harm approach) (2) a lot of aid is wasted or just goes to programs that make us feel good but don’t do much help –> importance on listening to select the right investments and then working with the recipients of the money to make sure they are involved in the usage of money in their area. Analytics can be used to find the most impactful sources requiring dollars and how to use them, but at the end of the day the end-users need to be part of the solution.
